Old Koreelah

I can’t speak for him, but I left that discussion long ago. I have to protect what’s left of my mental health, which has taken a considerable hammering in recent weeks. I am disappointed at how easily my countrymen were manipulated and distracted from the simple issue at the centre of the Voice. I have been appalled at the ugly things said by people around me who I used to respect. I am shocked that Trump-style misinformation and baiting has infected Australia’s political landcape. During the last thirteen years I’ve recovering from the biggest trauma of my life, when I discovered- the hard way- just how few people I could depend upon. I’ve built a new and better life, with better people; these forums were a significant part of my recovery, but I’ll be staying away from this one. I totally understand Shane Howard: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-18/goanna-shane-howard-returns-oam-referendum-result/102989978

Exactly- so just tax rubber tyres by weight. The more rubber a vehicle uses, the more load it puts on our roads. Bicycles could finally pay for their road use, but at a rate commensurate with their impact.

Perhaps a more equitable method of paying for roads would be to phase out fuel excise and replace it with a national tax on the thing every vehicle uses: tyre rubber.

If my large family is anything to go by, a marriage licence is no more guarantee of wedded bliss than living in sin.

OME you often cause me to reach for the dictionary. This one sure opened a can of descriptive terms!

Or, to put it more clearly:

Many seek Paradise, but few find it; those that do often make the mistake of telling everyone else and pretty soon Paradise is Lost! A flying mate has used a few caravan trips to reconnoitre remote airstrips with a pub and bore baths. Only after being sworn to secrecy has he taken us on a flying trip to them.

Every day I have the utter frustration of being surrounded by ordinary people who have no idea how much they are being influenced (manipulated?) by the insidious Murdoch media machine. Copies of The Daily Terrograph are everywhere and people pick them and let the poison in. They have no idea how even a lurid headline seeps into their unconscious mind. This is how he makes his money:

Not much wood available across the earthquake zone from Italy through Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thousands of years of cutting down forests and overgrazing by sheep and goats. A recent clever innovation to lay ropes in the mortar helps keep mud brick buildings together, but I bet the stupid Taliban ban that idea, along with any other Western influence.

We’re starting to see more of that evil tactic. Russians lobbing in an extra missile just as rescue workers arrive. Second car bombs being laid, timed to kill first responders. Utterly without humanity.

This thread could do with an introduction to Real Estate Agents:

All true, but kids still need to learn to read. From the earliest age they benefit from picture books, then progress to basic readers. Some already have started reading and writing before they start Kinder. Others begin school with no bluddy idea how to turn the pages of a book. They came from households without books. I’ve taught kids from those sort of homes, with parents who confidently proclaimed that all their kids needed to learn about was computers. By far the greatest factor in a child’s educational success is parents

I know talented teachers who were crushed by the out-of-classroom workload. Too much time spent on tedious compliance paperwork. Technology could greatly streamline the planning, evaluating, analyzing and recording. There are some rays of hope on the horizon. Last week I spent a day in a big hospital (my brother got trampled by cattle and my sister was trying to get her heart out of AF). The visiting surgeon was accompanied by a young bloke (perhaps an intern) who typed everything into a big console, presumably to free up the doctor to do what he does best.

Not my experience: my first purchased-new Japanese bike (CX-500) was recalled to address a main bearing a few microns out of tolerance. At the same time, my wife’s Moto Guzzi bearings were way outside of the factory’s already sloppy tolerances and nothing was done. Crickey things must have improved since I bought my 860 in 1975. Bits fell off from the first minutes, but there was no support!